We sometimes assume that our students are all very technology-savvy, using social networking in their everyday lives. Indeed this is highly likely, with the vast majority of the UK’s population owning smart phones and being on at least one of the main social networking sites (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). However, posting in an academic forum to people we may never meet face-to-face, and often including those responsible for their assessment can be daunting for many students. Should the language be formal? Does grammar matter? Should the work include references? Are emoticons acceptable? Are abbreviations such as lol? Who has access to a discussion board within the module and why? Will discussion boards be monitored? If so, by whom and why? Will they be assessed and if so by whom and how?

Share with the students the level of engagement a particular discussion board will have from you the tutor, unfulfilled expectations can create lead to frustrations and impact on learners’ SoB. It may be that you have some areas (e.g. the online café) that you won’t take part in any more than you would expect to sit with on-campus students during their lunch break. However, boards where learners discuss the week’s formal teaching are where you can build personal engagement and connection with the students. Use informal and friendly language, establishing a welcoming tone from the outset. Using less formal academic language can encourage confidence and engagement with students. This leads to the students feeling more part of the class.

Example: Rebecca introduced ‘netiquette’ and a link to a short online article to seed a discussion around use of discussions in her module with her students. There was some discussion around what was professional, particularly around emoticons. One student whose first language used the Arabic alphabet did not realise her use of capitalisation could be viewed as shouting.  This made the useful point that when working in an international cohort, something that is ok for one student may not be appropriate for others.